BULLETIN- 1042, U. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



having similar conditions, as shown in figure 1. Some of the methods 

 and results may be utilized to advantage by cattle feeders in other 

 parts of the country. 



THE REGION AND ITS PROBLEMS. 



The topography in most parts of the region, except in the vicinity 

 of streams, is gently rolling or even mountainous in the higher 

 elevations. The region is generally cleared of forest trees, although 

 vast areas of cut-over or stump land are found. The farms vary in 

 size from less than 100 acres to more than 1,000 acres. The land is 

 especially adapted for grazing purposes. In most sections there is 



tillable land for the production 

 of abundant crops for winter feed 

 or other purposes. 



It is in this general area that 

 a large percentage of the grass- 

 finished cattle which go annually 

 to eastern markets are produced. 

 The fact that most of the steers 

 raised in this area are finished 

 for market from grass alone at- 

 tests the value of the pastures, 

 which consist largely of blue grass. 

 The use of grain for finishing 

 cattle is not general, although 

 there are many sections where the 

 practice is followed, particularly 

 in the valleys of some of the larger 

 streams. By far the larger num- 

 ber of farmers who handle beef 

 cattle grow either stockers and 

 feeders or finish cattle for market 

 from grass alone. It therefore becomes one of the principal beef -pro- 

 duction problems in this general area to determine the best and most 

 economical method of wintering the cattle and the one that will enable 

 them to make the best possible use of the pasture the following- 

 summer, the time when the cheapest gains are made. A common 

 practice in this area has been to winter steers on dry feed, such as 

 hay, corn stover, and wheat straw, and on corn silage to a less 

 extent, in a way that causes them to lose materially in weight. 

 They are then pastured the following summer and sold from grass 

 either as stockers or feeders or as finished steers for the market. 

 There are some who hold the idea that it is profitable to permit this 

 loss of weight, which with older steers often amounts to from 25 to 

 100 pounds. Others believe that cattle wintered on silage, or on a 



Fig. 1. — Map showing region to which 

 this work applies. The black dot indi- 

 cates the location of the farm on which 

 the experiment was conducted. The 

 shaded portion represents the area to 

 which the results are applicable, and 

 the dotted portion shows an additional 

 area to which the results apply In part. 



